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'Charter of shame' marks a sad season for Quebec

Will the majority of Quebecers push back against Pauline Marois's attempt, for purely partisan reasons, to trample Quebec minorities’ fundamental rights?

Quebecers from all walks of life, including a significant number of separatists, are categorically opposed to Pauline Marois's proposed charter of Quebec values. (Ryan Remiorz / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

By André Pratte

Thu., Sept. 12, 2013

Seen from outside Quebec, it may seem that the proposal to forbid government workers from wearing “ostentatious” religious symbols is another example of Quebecers’ supposed xenophobia. Before I denounce the so-called “charter of Quebec values,” which I called the “charter of shame” in an editorial published in La Presse Wednesday morning, let me underline that a very large number of Quebecers from all walks of life, including a significant number of separatists, are categorically opposed to the Marois government’s policy on that front. Many are, as I am, worried and sad. “This is not the Quebec I know,” they sigh.

Since the proposal was published, all three opposition parties in the National Assembly have deplored its attack on the fundamental rights of religious minorities. Quebec’s largest union federation, the three main candidates for mayor of Montreal, the mayors of the 15 other municipalities on the island of Montreal, a prominent Bloc Québécois MP (expelled from the tiny BQ caucus Thursday), a major teachers’ union, the Fédération des femmes du Québec have all come out publicly against that part of the charter. So has a group of prominent separatist intellectuals.

As in all societies, our province has its share of prejudiced and ignorant people. In Quebec in the last seven or eight years, those people’s fears of “strangers” have been exacerbated by a few cases where members of minority confessions have benefited from what seemed to many to be unreasonable arrangements (workers enjoying additional days off for religious holidays, others demanding for a driving instructor of their own sex, others yet asking for separate public pool hours for men and women, etc.).

The media often exaggerated the facts and gave the impression that such cases were common. Sometimes, they illustrated their stories about Muslims with pictures of women wearing a burka or a niqab, using photographs taken in the Middle East since there are practically no women dressed in the all-covering garments in Montreal.

In regions outside the metropolitan area, where there are few immigrants, many Quebecers imagined that the province was being “invaded” by members from radical religious groups. They believed that the province, and in particular its women, was in danger of falling into the hands of Muslim fundamentalists. “We did not throw off the yoke of the Catholic Church to fall under the one of misogynous imams,” many have protested.

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A responsible government would see as its duty to address the few problems that exist. For instance, it would help managers of public and private organizations deal with demands for religious adjustment so as to balance the fundamental rights of all people involved. To the contrary, politicians willing to do anything to be elected and to remain in government will stoke fears and prejudice. This is how low Pauline Marois’s Parti Québécois has sunk.

The government’s arguments do not hold water. Except in some daycare centres, schools and health facilities in Montreal, there are very few, if any workers in the provincial public sector who wear religious symbols at work. The bull that Marois claims to “courageously” take by the horns does not exist.

The péquistes say that since the state is neutral, all its representatives should also be neutral, in fact as well as in appearance. But of course, wearing a religious sign does not make one worker less neutral than the other. A person’s neutrality towards citizens and customers is demonstrated by her actions, not by the clothes and the jewels she wears.

However, the Marois government does not care if its policy is based on facts or not, coherent or not. The PQ was looking for a wedge issue that it could carry into an election and win the majority that eluded it last year. This is it.

The scenario concocted by the PQ tacticians probably goes like this: in a few weeks, the proposals will be tabled to the legislative assembly in the form of a bill. To the government’s satisfaction, the opposition parties will unite to defeat it. Marois will then dissolve parliament and ask the people for a mandate to “stand up for Quebec values.”

The premier may win her majority. But the long-term effect on the province could be catastrophic. For instance, the months-long debate will have been extremely divisive. That will prevent (again!) Quebecers from uniting, as they should, to tackle the huge social and economic challenges the province faces.

This fall will be a sad season in Quebec’s history. I pray (may I?) that the majority of Quebecers will push back hard against this attempt, for purely partisan reasons, to trample the province’s minorities’ fundamental rights. If they don’t, I’m afraid the province will pay a heavy price.

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